George Abdill's 1961 Logging Railroads of the West shows a picture of this locomotive on her side in the woods off a low trestle. The caption reads in part, " Railfan C.G. Morrow bought the distressed locomotive, 'as is, where is' and planned to display it in a rail museum in Snoqualmie Falls, Wasington."Does anyone know the rest of the story?

The locomotive was hauled to Snoqualmie and was deposited in piles of parts. It was always privately owned. It was later sold to Rogan Coombs in California and currently is still in pieces at Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad.

Richard

> George Abdill's 1961 Logging Railroads of> the West shows a picture of this locomotive> on her side in the woods off a low trestle.> The caption reads in part, " Railfan> C.G. Morrow bought the distressed> locomotive, 'as is, where is' and planned to> display it in a rail museum in Snoqualmie> Falls, Wasington."> Does anyone know the rest of the story?

Bob Yarger

Post subject: Re: Deep River Logging #7

Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2003 11:22 am

Interestingly, there have numerous models of this engine reproduced in scales from HO to live steam. For some reason, the real thing still lies in pieces (hopefully all still there), with seemingly little interest in reassembling it.Scroll down on the linked page for a builder's photo.

> The locomotive was hauled to Snoqualmie and> was deposited in piles of parts. It was> always privately owned. It was later sold to> Rogan Coombs in California and currently is> still in pieces at Mt. Rainier Scenic> Railroad.

IMO, this is one of the neatest chooches ever built. Had the pleasure of seeing the 1 1/2 inch scale live-steam model of it (mentioned by Bob) in action...really cool!!

IIRC, all of the locomotive's major components are there. I guess nothing that a lot of time and money can't put back together, restore, and make go. The MRSR website lists it as "awaiting restoration". See the below link for a photo of the chassis as it appears today. BTW, on some fairly recent video from the MRSR (I forget which one) it shows the chassis being switched around on their yard tracks--still seemed to roll pretty good.

From a very well informed person, I was told the boiler was seperated from the chassis using dynamite! Being that this has always been a privately owned project, and that the owner is a thousand miles away it's easy to see why it hasn't progressed. It's a huge project in need of everything including big time cubic dollars.

Excellent site. I think this locomotive best exemplifies why we need to stop thinking every steam engine will run again. If I lived out there (which I don't), I'd be interested in starting a movement to simply reassemble it and complete a thorough cosmetic restoration, a much less expensive and more practical alternative to making it run again.

Deep River #7 is missing its cab, most of the boxes and buckets of bolts, some of the tender truck frame parts, and much of the smaller piping. I have negatives of all the other parts. The stack was there until the time of its last move.

BUT is is the oldest extant bar-frame Mallet; the only one with the side frame interlock. Built only 5 years after B&O's "Old Maude," it is an extremely valuable mechanical artifact. Trying to hocus it up into a running locomotive would be completely unethical and damaging to the surviving fabric.

Do as Bob says and preserve it as a very early example of American Mallet technology.

> Deep River #7 is missing its cab, most of> the boxes and buckets of bolts, some of the> tender truck frame parts, and much of the> smaller piping. I have negatives of all the> other parts. The stack was there until the> time of its last move.

> BUT is is the oldest extant bar-frame> Mallet; the only one with the side frame> interlock. Built only 5 years after> B&O's "Old Maude," it is an> extremely valuable mechanical artifact.> Trying to hocus it up into a running> locomotive would be completely unethical and> damaging to the surviving fabric.

> Do as Bob says and preserve it as a very> early example of American Mallet technology.

Makes good sense to me! Leave it to rust away in a field in the mountains of western Washington. The pieces to be scattered and eventually lost. It can be a shrine to be visited by the hand full (hand few?) of people who know, or care what it was...

It'll be kind of like an unmarked grave, or maybe an abandonned house in a rural area. Once we die it'll be forgotten, along with our reasons for not trying to restore or preserve it. It'll become an eyesore and then be considered a "problem" to be dealt with. A fate much different from the equipment that was lovingly, and respectfully restored, that will outlast us, and continue to inspire new generations.

There's times when there is a case for saving "historic fabric", but I doubt this is one of them. There simply isn't enough fabric worthy of interpretation. If someone wanted to invest the big dollars and huge amounts of time needed for either a cosmetic or operational restoration, I'd say God Bless'm!

> Makes good sense to me! Leave it to rust> away in a field in the mountains of western> Washington. The pieces to be scattered and> eventually lost. It can be a shrine to be> visited by the hand full (hand few?) of> people who know, or care what it was...

> It'll be kind of like an unmarked grave, or> maybe an abandonned house in a rural area.> Once we die it'll be forgotten, along with> our reasons for not trying to restore or> preserve it. It'll become an eyesore and> then be considered a "problem" to> be dealt with. A fate much different from> the equipment that was lovingly, and> respectfully restored, that will outlast us,> and continue to inspire new generations.

> In the end, it's fate is up to whoever owns> it.

BrianF

Post subject: Re: Deep River Logging #7

Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2003 2:53 pm

I had a chance to visit Mineral recently and took these photos of the the #7.

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